HKT names Susanna Hui group MD, as Alex Arena retires
Hong Kong incumbent carrier HKT announced that Alex Arena will retire as group managing director, executive director and trustee-manager with effect from the end of August.
Susanna Hui (pictured) will replace Arena as MD and will step down from her current role as group chief financial officer from September 1. Hui has been group CFO, an executive director and trustee-manager since the group listed in November 2011. She is also group CFO and an executive director of PCCW Limited, the group’s holding company, a member of PCCW’s executive committee, and an executive director of Pacific Century Premium Developments Limited.
Evan Wong, current director of group finance, will be promoted to CFO and trustee-manager from September 1.
Arena, aged 67, has been with the senior management team of the group for 20 years. During his tenure, Arena led the company through a period of commendable financial performance and sustained growth, achieved both organically and through the transformative acquisition and successful integration of CSL, amongst many of his other achievements, HKT said in a filling to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange [pdf].
“Under his leadership, HKT has gone from strength to strength. The company is in great shape and Alex has created a platform for sustained growth in the years ahead,” said HKT chairman Richard Li in the statement.
NTT Group, subsidiaries appoint chief digital officers
Japan’s NTT Group has announced the appointments of a number of chief digital officers across the group’s operating companies.
Motoyuki Ii, senior executive vice president and representative member of the board, will take over the role of CDO at NTT Corp, while senior executive vice presidents Naoki Shibutani and Shozo Ito will become CDOs of NTT East and NTT West, respectively.
At the same time, NTT Communications has appointed senior executive vice president Toru Maruoka as its CDO, and Hiroyasu Asami will take up the role of CDO at NTT Docomo. NTT DATA has already appointed an executive officer to lead the digital strategy.
The new CDOs will be responsible for driving the companies’ respective digital transformations with the aim of further enhancing the efficiency of business processes and providing new added-value services, according to a company statement.
“Innovation in digital technologies is creating a certain trend of digital disruption overturning existing industries. Moreover, we face such social issues as aging population with a declining birthrate and shrinkage in the labor force in Japan,” said Motoyuki Ii.
“In this market situation, additionally with our group-wide challenges such as introduction of 5G and PSTN migration, the CDOs will formulate digital strategies and promote them, enabling our group to be more flexible and agile in accordance with drastically changing business environment.”
Axiata chairman steps down
Axiata Group announced its chairman Tan Sri Datuk Wira Azman Hj. Mokhtar has stepped down after 10 years of service at the Malaysian telecoms group. He has also resigned as Axiata Group’s non-independent non-executive director and representative of Khazanah Nasional, according to a company statement.
Axiata said Azman Mokhtar was “the visionary leader behind Axiata’s growth and expansion since its inception in 2008.” This includes increasing Axiata’s customer base from 40 million to close to 350 million with presence in 11 countries, making it the second largest telecoms group within ASEAN and South Asia. In the same period, the company’s revenue more than doubled to reach 24 billion ringgit ($5.88 billion), while market capitalization improved 1.8x from 28.3 billion ringgit at its initial public offering in 2008 to 49.6 billion ringgit at end December 2017.
Tan Sri Ghazzali Sheikh Abdul Khalid, senior independent non-executive director of Axiata said that Tan Sri Azman’s vision, business acumen and professionalism had led Axiata to become a regional champion and an institution with a very strong governance practice.
“As a chairman, he always ensured that we carried out our fiduciary duties in accordance with the highest accountability, and at the same time creating long-term value for our stakeholders,” he said.